White Bear Knights!

North of Dawn City. Changjiu Farm Trading Post. Standing next to an Electric Mule truck laden with cargo, Sisi stroked her chin in deep thought for a long while before suddenly punching her fist into her palm. "How about calling ourselves the Panda Merchant Guild? We have both a bear and a cat!" Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Rou Rou shook her head like a rattle drum. "No, no! A panda's way off the mark!" To Sisi's surprise, it was not just Rou Rou who objected; even Tail raised a hand in protest. "Add one to the veto! Neither Tail's nor Sisi's name is in that at all!" "Uh," Sisi replied, "I think it'd be fine if you just put your own name in. I really don't mind." Tail said with absolute solemnity, "That won't do! We have to come up with a name where everyone gets screen time!" "Um..." Sesame Paste raised her hand and said in a small voice, "Just to be clear... I'm only working part-time here... You really don't need to factor me in." While playing with everyone was plenty of fun, compared to founding a mercenary guild, turning into space pirates, and conquering the cosmos, she still favored a more relaxed style of play. For instance, riding a motorcycle between survivor settlements to make deliveries sounded quite pleasant. It would allow her to take in the diverse scenery of this vast world, meet all sorts of people she would never encounter in reality, and earn money at the same time. Vehicles in this game were simply too expensive, however, so she would have to save up for a while. "Three votes to one, huh? I concede defeat," Sisi sighed. "That said, can't we just figure it out on the road?" "It's about having a sense of occasion, a sense of ritual! You're a woman with zero romance! If we don't have a cool name before we hit the road, how are we supposed to announce ourselves if we bump into marauders?" Crossing her arms, Tail spoke with worldly gravity before her eyes suddenly lit up. "How about the Tail Adventure Squad?" "Wait, what about me? What about me?" Rou Rou complained. "And didn't you just say a second ago that everyone needed screen time?" "Ehehe, I forgot." Sisi gave a dry cough. "What a hassle... Then let's just call it the Rou Rou Knights. We take turns riding Rou Rou, we're all Rou Rou Knights, and starting right now, Rou Rou is our commander. Problem solved!" The big white bear raised her paws in exasperation, caught between laughter and tears. "Wait a second! I—I don't mind playing the mount, but that just sounds way too weird!" "Yeah, Tail thinks it's weird too. It sounds like Rou Rou is a flesh [BEEP—] or something!" Having solemnly self-censored a rather perilous phrase, Tail gave it another moment of thought before her eyes gleamed once more, speaking up before Rou Rou could even process what had been said. "How about the White Bear Knights!" Perhaps because they had dwelled on the matter for too long, or perhaps because it genuinely sounded quite dashing, even Rou Rou raised no objections this time. And so, the White Bear Knights were officially born. Using the rest of their funds, Sisi purchased a Maxim-II machine gun. Unlike the original Maxim that had displayed such prowess during the Tide, the managers at the No. 81 Steel Mill had drawn inspiration from the air-cooling structure of the MG42, redesigning the weapon with a quick-change barrel suited to the harsh wasteland battlefield and upping its caliber to 10mm. The 10×100mm machine gun cartridge was loaded with X-4 fiber propellant, giving it single-shot penetration power fully comparable to the 12.7×108mm heavy rounds of a DShK heavy machine gun. It was more than sufficient to suppress the tentacled multi-legged beasts prowling along their route, as well as those massive, thick-skinned, hard-hitting monsters. The workers dispatched from the No. 81 Steel Mill not only welded the gun mount onto the truck's roof, but also welded on bulletproof steel plating for them. Every time she dealt with the managers from Mill 81, Sisi could not help marveling in her heart that the lifestyle players in this game were courting criminal charges with ever-increasing audacity. "And the rocket launcher! Can't forget this!" Tail grunted as she heaved a wooden crate onto the truck, which held three RPG fragmentation grenades and armor-piercing warheads. An electrically driven armed transport truck was complete! Her cat ears twitching slightly, Sesame Paste looked at the cargo piled into the back with some worry. "Speaking of which... Is an electric truck really going to have enough range?" There were no charging stations on the wasteland. Going by real-world experience, the range of electric vehicles did not seem particularly great. Sisi patted her shoulder. "Mmm... It's a battery from a sci-fi game, after all. Even though I have no idea what a solid-state hydrogen battery actually is, making two round trips should be a breeze. Don't worry about it." The actual distance from here to Red River Town was under a hundred kilometers. Heading somewhere further would require an extra spare battery or a generator at most. Besides, the wasteland lacked gas stations just as much as charging piles. For small-scale transport without an accompanying fuel tanker, fuel-powered vehicles were actually far from the optimal choice. Biomass fuel required a whole refining process to turn into gasoline, whereas wood that could be burned for electricity was everywhere. Following the collapse of civilization and the end of the deep freeze, thriving vegetation had been the first to reclaim the cities, long before the mutant slime mold arrived. "Safe travels!" Standing before her stall, Shuanghe waved lightly, offering a warm smile and blessings to the departing adventurers. This was already the third merchant caravan formed by shelter residents she had seen off today. Previously, most of the merchants visiting the trading post had come from Red River Town, including large-scale caravans like the Horseshoe Trading Firm. Lately, however, shelter residents had begun joining their ranks in greater numbers. They generally opted to trade in LD-47 rifles and 7mm full-power cartridges, which had stable prices, making Red River Town—a location relatively close to Dawn City with a voracious appetite for weaponry—their primary destination. With practiced ease, Shuanghe used her index finger to operate her VM, signing and uploading the purchase ledger. The data would be cross-checked by management later that day and counted toward her daily performance metrics. At the same time, once verified, the data was automatically synchronized with the shelter's central server. On a processor possessing unfathomable computing power, an AI bordering on a true artificial intelligence cross-referenced the submissions against data from inventory departments and production units. Even if a single bullet went missing, the system could pinpoint exactly which link in the chain had lost it, as well as the person responsible. This highly automated, AI-driven management model had technically replaced a vast layer of middle management requiring extensive administrative experience, rendering the entire command structure far flatter. Moreover, the system demanded relatively low technical qualifications from grassroots workers. As long as they mastered the foolproof interface of the VM and understood their specific duties, the stable operation of the whole apparatus was guaranteed. Simultaneously, the Administrator gained access to the purest firsthand data, enabling the formulation of macro-level strategies grounded in reality. Currently, the literacy rate across the New Alliance was still below thirty percent, even after half a year of running literacy classes and evening schools. This was also an improvement Chu Guang had devised by borrowing from the People's Federation's "Future Governance" framework. In the era before the Prosperity Era, completing such a system might have required hundreds of programmers working around the clock for a year or more. Yet for Xiao Qi, who possessed near-true artificial intelligence, it took only a brief conversation with the Administrator. *** Day four of the Beta 0.2 launch. The number of players participating in the merchant caravan system reached 417, while nearly 657 had enlisted in the corps system. The rest either adhered to established playstyles, were casual players taking things easy, or were newcomers who had yet to meet the requirements. No game could make every single player grind relentlessly, but it could certainly give dedicated grinders the space to push even harder. Chu Guang was gratified to see that the previously distorted prices had finally returned to normal. Now the natives could enjoy the delicacies of another world, while the lifestyle players, who had previously been pampered by combat players, had stepped out of their comfort zones at last—upgrading their gear, expanding production, and carving out new markets. The Light Cavalry exoskeleton, listed in the NPC shop as the "endgame build of the version," had sold forty sets in just three days, while twelve of the Electric Mule light trucks—priced at fifty thousand silver coins each—had found buyers. And those numbers were steadily climbing. Chu Guang had already arranged for personnel to expand production of the Electric Mule, while also boosting capital injections into the Bucky Aluminum Plant and the Lister Factory by extending loans. In the future, Type-A3 aerospace aluminum alloy and solid-state hydrogen batteries would become even cheaper. With the players' affairs settled, Chu Guang could finally turn his attention to matters that bore directly on the New Alliance's future... In the reading room on Level B4. Staff members wearing VMs carried sealed crates of books inside, arranging them on the previously empty shelves according to Chu Guang's instructions, sorting them into the natural sciences and social sciences wherever possible. These volumes came from Shelter 401. After Shelter 117's reactor shut down, the books preserved within had either been carried off by the Torch or burned for fuel by fleeing residents and nearby wastelanders. Fortunately, inside the recently unearthed Shelter 401, Chu Guang had discovered a sizable cache of fascinating books. Marauders held no interest in such things. Thanks to the maneuverings of the old popsicle named Sun Zewen, this prime firewood had miraculously survived. At least a portion of it had. And thanks to that, these fuels could finally burn in the proper way and in the proper place. Currently, the task of sorting the books was handled by personnel from the Merchant Guild. It was the department with the highest literacy rate in the New Alliance. It was also overseen by Old Charlie. "R-Respected Administrator, a total of 2,490 books were delivered from Shelter 401. Among them are 217 in the social sciences, 332 in the natural sciences, 641 in applied engineering, 110 popular science works, and biographical and fictional works..." "Within specific subfields, there are thirty-one books related to agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, and those related to food processing..." Shuang Xue was so nervous she nearly bit her tongue several times. This was her first time stepping into the heart of the New Alliance—Level B4 of Shelter 404. It was also her first time seeing the Administrator out of his power armor. "Good work. You've all done wonderfully." Looking at the young girl, Chu Guang nodded in approval. Being able to sort these books into broad categories was already commendable; he would never fault his subordinates for failing to achieve things beyond their capability. Yet not only had they finished the task in just a few days, but they had also exceeded expectations by breaking them down into specific fields. Frankly, it came as a pleasant surprise even to Chu Guang. He had originally planned to scan the volumes with Xiao Qi's help and sort them during his spare time while reading through them. Old Charlie had evidently spent plenty of effort over the past few days, saving him a significant amount of time. Later, Chu Guang would select several books with lower entry barriers and simpler prose to serve as primary education textbooks. He would likely need to trouble the old man with that task as well. Old Charlie had previously served as both town mayor and school principal on Bet Street, giving him a deeper understanding of the native population's actual circumstances than any academic expert. Chu Guang intended to appoint him as Minister of Education once the Merchant Guild was firmly on track. Assuming, of course, that the old man was willing to keep working. After all, his age was considered quite advanced on the wasteland. "U-Um..." Seeing that the girl before him still had something to say, Chu Guang spoke in a gentle tone. "Is there something else?" "Mr. Charlie told me... to remind you to take care and rest. You are the Alliance's Administrator; your health is far more precious than these books," Shuang Xue murmured softly. Chu Guang paused, then let out a laugh. "Haha, thank him for his concern on my behalf, and pass a message back to him for me: I'm still young, and this bit of work is hardly enough to wear me out." He had to be joking. This new job was vastly easier than his former days in sales! With Xiao Qi helping compile spreadsheets and monitor anomalous data, he could observe the truest data from every sector of the New Alliance—from industry to the economy—with a bird's-eye omniscience worthy of a grand strategy gamer. In his leisure hours, he could even browse cultural media from parallel worlds for inspiration. Back when he worked in sales, not only had he run himself half to death, but he had also been forced to force down alcohol with clients, occasionally fending off wandering hands from people taking a fancy to his youthful good looks. Chu Guang would likely never touch liquor again in this life. Unless he ran into a stubborn lightweight like Luo Hua, where taking a modest sip helped extract intelligence. As for ordinary days? Sparkling water or mushroom soup was plenty. Shuang Xue, of course, had no idea what reflections were drifting through Chu Guang's mind. She only felt that the Administrator, who devoted himself utterly to everyone, was extraordinarily kind. Under his governance, everyone lived in warm brick houses, free from the harrowing choices forced by mere survival, spared from wandering the wilderness without a place to call home. Yet he seemed never to do anything for himself. Not only did he still reside in a pre-collapse underground bunker, but even the abandoned sanatorium where the New Alliance's founding had been proclaimed had received only modest repairs. She truly hoped he would be a little kinder to himself. A trace of deep reverence stole into her admiring eyes. Hesitant to disturb his work any longer, the girl bowed respectfully, turned around, and rejoined her colleagues in organizing the books. Shelving over two thousand books took some time. Gazing at the room, which finally resembled a proper reading library, Chu Guang gave a satisfied nod. In his eyes, these treasures were far more precious than any black box. Black boxes solved immediate problems, but books solved the problems of the future. And unlike the fragmented data the archaeological team retrieved from ruined storage drives, every single book here corresponded to a concrete, structured field. *The baseline requirements for natural sciences and engineering are too high, and cultural arts aren't needed yet. I'll start with the popular science books and pick out the textbooks at the same time.* *Education is a project for centuries to come; the sooner it begins, the better.* *Then come the social sciences... Using twenty points of Intelligence just to bully Stellaris AI is a waste. I ought to recharge my own brain every now and then.* *Moving forward, grassroots managers will need proper coursework and examinations, too.* *As for the players...* Regarding whether to open these materials to the players, Chu Guang pondered for a long time, ultimately settling on a more cautious path. First and foremost, keeping the reality of this world a secret was the absolute bottom line. The first-generation manager had hinted at this to him countless times, and Chu Guang had gradually come to realize the underlying risks through his own experience. Revealing one's true needs during interactions was a dangerous game; it was tantamount to sticking out one's neck for someone else to seize. Whether lurkers on the forums or active players, there was no shortage of experts across various industries and disciplines. The only thing they lacked was experience in building a wasteland. Chu Guang could slowly filter people in as needed; there was no reason to complicate his own life for the sake of a fraction-of-a-percent buff. The players were already doing the best they could within their capabilities, just like the natives helping him organize the library. As for high-end technological research? Who was better suited for scientific research than the old popsicles of the Prosperity Era and their descendants? Reclaiming the legacy of the Prosperity Era simply did not require so many people. The shelter residents were more than sufficient, and according to Yin Fang's descriptions, the Academy pursued a similar approach. Most players entered the game seeking entertainment, not academic study. As Kuang Feng had once joked long ago, if this technology were ever co-opted by bosses for workplace labor, he would rather just go to sleep. Chu Guang would consider granting players access to certain technologies as the game progressed, serving as rewards for their efforts, but all of it had to occur under the premise that the true nature of this world remained concealed. In truth, that was not hard to manage. Chu Guang had previously drawn inspiration from the differing strategies foreign governments adopted toward him. Those factions appeared to view the game as the first contact between an extraterrestrial civilization and Earth. And a contact of at least neutral alignment, if not better. With limited information, they could not explain how the gaming helmets appeared outside their doorsteps, nor could they explain how the website and game servers possessed power bordering on the divine. Was it strange for technologies unknown to Earth to appear in an advanced civilization's game? Of course not. Chu Guang could even guide their thinking, leading them to perceive the game as a benevolent enlightenment bestowed by an extraterrestrial civilization upon humanity. They would tread cautiously around his boundaries, minimize pointless probing, remain tight-lipped about the alien civilization, and treat the players receiving this higher enlightenment as national treasures—or even strategic assets—cradled in the palms of their hands. They might even earmark portions of their budgets to quietly inflate the price of silver coins. Much like him, they would use macro-level measures—gentle or aggressive—to encourage players to apply for labor visas, participate in the advanced civilization's game, study the knowledge and survival experience of their interstellar neighbors, and return to build their nation and benefit society. Just as he spared no expense in encouraging players to work for the Pioneer while strictly forbidding them from crossing lines with people they could not afford to provoke. In fact, if Chu Guang were sufficiently unscrupulous, he could play the mystic, claiming, "This is your dream, and this is your future," conning them into abiding by his rules even in reality. That, however, would be a very different and uncharted path. The art of management lay in guidance rather than dictation; overplaying one's hand was never wise. Looking at the rows of bookshelves before him, Chu Guang felt as though he were gazing upon a freshly dealt hand of cards, and a smile curled at the corner of his lips. *...Should I put out some bait first?* Or save it for the dividend payout before the next round of closed beta? Just as Chu Guang was pondering which technology or foundational scientific knowledge would make the most enticing lure, footsteps sounded outside the sliding door. Yin Fang, carrying a tablet tucked under his elbow, strolled into the reading room. From the look on his face, Chu Guang sensed that good news was likely afoot, prompting him to speak with an amiable smile. "I'm guessing there's progress on the fuel rods." "You should deliberately guess wrong to give me a sense of accomplishment." Yin Fang offered a light joke, handing the tablet to Chu Guang. "We found fuel rods compatible with shelter models in the underground warehouse of a thruster assembly plant. They have sixty-seven percent energy remaining, which should last quite a while. That corps of yours is currently on its way back; they'll see the shipment delivered to Shelter 401, and I'll head over to install them afterward... By the way, did you move all the books from Shelter 401 over here?" He had noticed the shelves packed with volumes. When he had visited previously, there hadn't been a single book in sight, leading him to wonder at one point whether the first-generation manager here had been an illiterate hack. "It's more convenient this way... Next time I'll pretend to guess wrong. How about I start by asking if you've fallen in love with someone?" Chu Guang teased with a grin. "Spare me. Pre-collapse ruins are far more interesting to me." Although Chu Guang had initially coerced him into joining the shelter, their subsequent interactions had gradually shown Yin Fang that this man was actually quite easy to get along with. To put it simply, he put on no airs. He was unlike the technocrats at the Academy, who had understood some technology at first but eventually turned into arrogant bureaucrats looking down their noses at everyone, leaving real workers like Yin Fang with zero room for advancement. The man before him was different. While utterly ignorant of foundational science—to the point where one wondered whether he had ever received standard shelter schooling—his genuine respect for knowledge made working with him comfortable. Yin Fang cast a glance around the reading room, his eyes lingering in particular on the coffee machine near the wall, envious appreciation written across his face. "The environment here is just too good." "Care to move your workspace here?" "No need. I feel uncomfortable when people are around... Can I take one of the coffee machines? You have so many anyway." Yin Fang had been eyeing that corner machine during his last visit, though he hadn't possessed the nerve to ask. Chu Guang chuckled. "The coffee trees were only just planted. What good will taking one do you?... Ah, forget it. If you want it, take it." Delight spreading across his face, Yin Fang scooped up his favorite unit. "Thank you so much!" A coffee machine from the People's Federation era counted as rare, high-tier technology even in this day and age. Aside from automatic drying, roasting, deacidification, and grinding, it could simulate a wide variety of processing flavors to order. He had heard that during the Prosperity Era, major People's Federation supermarkets stocked freshly harvested coffee cherries to satisfy consumers' personalized tastes. Possessing a high-tech coffee machine of his own brought Yin Fang greater joy than digging up a fusion reactor's fuel rod. Back at the Academy, that was a privilege reserved for Rank-B researchers and above! Watching Yin Fang's infatuated expression, Chu Guang's expression turned slightly odd. He had heard that middle-aged men often projected their emotional needs onto strange objects—like teapots, fishing rods, or even charging plugs. *Isn't this guy only in his early twenties?* "Is coffee really that good?" "You don't understand. Savoring the beauty of bygone days is one of the few joys left..." The hand caressing the machine halted, and a rare melancholic look settled over Yin Fang's face. "I've spent my entire life pursuing the remnants of the pre-collapse civilization. I unearth them from the rubble and catalog them. I've even dreamed about that era..." "Yet the frustrating truth is, the further I travel down this road, the clearer I understand... There is no going back." Chu Guang was silent for a moment. He said nothing, simply patting the young man's shoulder gently. "There's no need to mourn the past." "We are still here." "We are their continuation." *** The forested ruins of Qingquan City's eastern district. The Ox and Horse Squad, all outfitted in exoskeletons, was escorting the fuel rods along a heavily overgrown street, advancing with vigilance. They had just fought an engagement. A gang of marauders stationed near their mission objective had refused to surrender and opened fire on them. Taking out those savages, however, had required minimal effort. After handing the liberated captives and surviving marauders over to the relieving NPC soldiers, they took the crates containing the fuel rods and pushed on toward Shelter 401. It had to be said: exoskeletons were phenomenal. Carrying a fuel rod weighing over a hundred kilograms up and down across ruined hills would exhaust even a Strength-type build. Mounted on the exoskeleton frame, however, it produced zero sensation of weight aside from a slight increase in power consumption. Walking in the dead center of the formation, Jieyan looked down at his endgame gear. After hesitating for a long time, he finally gave voice to the thoughts he had bottled up the entire way. "Brothers, I—" "Alright, put a lid on it. We'll deduct fifteen percent from your mission earnings and split it four ways, okay?" Lao Bai interrupted with a resigned sigh. He had noticed what was weighing on Jieyan's mind long before this. Sure enough, hearing those words, Jieyan let out a breath, the tension gradually draining from his expression. "Thanks." A Light Cavalry exoskeleton cost ten thousand silver coins. Only forty sets existed across the entire server, with another sixty displayed in the NPC shop, limited to one per account. His modest savings were nowhere near enough to buy one; after all, he had only joined the game around the Land Voyager expansion. Though they often gifted each other equipment in games, this piece was far too valuable—worth two to three hundred thousand RMB in the real world. He genuinely felt uncomfortable accepting it. "What are you thanking us for?" Ye Shi rolled his eyes petulantly. "We're still counting on you to get tanky enough to be our main." "No need to make such a big deal out of it." Fang Chang patted Jieyan's shoulder. "We only got ahead because we were lucky enough to join the game early. If you want to thank someone, thank Brother Guang instead of us." Kuang Feng agreed, "Seconded. Don't carry unnecessary baggage when playing a game. Calculating how much your gear is worth in cash is pointless." Sniffing slightly, Jieyan refrained from voicing further sentimental pleasantries, choosing instead to quietly commit their kindness to heart. "Two kilometers left before we enter the safe zone. This mission will probably unlock a new outpost to serve as a starter village for the greenhorns..." Lao Bai tapped his VM to verify their position. "Two choices: cut straight through the abandoned theater toward the No. 3 Ecological Park Station, or head back the way we came." Kuang Feng rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Generally speaking, taking a shortcut is a classic way to raise a death flag." Fang Chang replied, "Then let's play it safe." Right at that moment, however, Ye Shi suddenly tightened his grip on his sniper rifle. "No need to choose." The other four snapped to full alert instantly. Lao Bai swung his gaze toward him, asking gravely, "What did you spot?" "Killing intent..." Ye Shi swallowed, his eyes scanning their surroundings with intense caution. "It's faint... but I can feel it." The street remained dead quiet; not a single anomaly was visible. Yet Ye Shi's intuition was rarely wrong. The presence of killing intent meant the enemy had already spotted them. Lao Bai's expression hardened. Giving the hand signal to spread out, he barked in a low voice, "Prepare for combat!"